Yasser Arafat was named chairman on the Palestinian Liberation Organization on this day in 1969. The PLO was first formed in 1964, prior to Israel taking the West Bank and Gaza from the Palestinian people, and it was Arafat who first pushed for a two-state solution. He died in 2004, and in November NPR and other other major news organizations looked into the theory that he was poisoned by Israel.

Today in 1826, “The Last of the Mohicans” is published … and, of course, James Fenimore Cooper may have spoken too soon … the Mohegan Tribe was first federally recognized in 1990 and now runs a $2 billion a year casino in eastern Connecticut called, of course, Mohegan Sun.

American hero Neal Cassady pulls his final prank today in 1968. He was never big on resting peacefully, so I’ll not wish it on him for eternity.